Guided Mourning for Morbid Grief: A Controlled Study

Abstract

During 2 weeks on a waiting list 12 patients with morbid grief did not improve significantly. They were then randomly allocated either to guided mourning treatment, in which they were encouraged to face cues concerning their bereavement, or to control treatment in which they were asked to avoid such cues. Each treatment comprised six 1 1/2 hour sessions over 2 weeks. At week 4 guided mourning patients had improved significantly more than had controls on 3 measures, with a supportive trend on 4 measures. Improvement, though modest, was maintained to 10-28 weeks follow-up. Control patients did not improve significantly or show any trend to do so.

Bereaved older adults who seek early professional help

“…This is underscored by the literature that has emerged documenting a variety of bereavement interventions. Typical interventions have included widow-to-widow programs (Silverman, 1986;Vachon, Lyall, Rogers, Freedman-Letofsky, & Freeman, 1980), community-based bereavement support groups (Constantino, 1988;DeBor, Gallagher, & Lesher, 1983;Lieberman, & Videka-Sherman, 1986), individual psychotherapy (Gerber, Wiener, Battin, & Arkin, 1975;Horowitz, Marmar, Weiss, DeWitt, & Rosenbaum, 1984;Mawson, Marks, Ramm, & Stern, 1981;Raphael, 1977;Rynearson, 1987), use of clergy and funeral directors (Glick et al, 1974), and medication prescribed by physicians and psychiatrists (Osterweis, Solomon, & Green, 1984).…”

Clinical and Biological Aspects of Bereavement and Loss-Induced Depression: A Reappraisal

“…There are a few reports about specific psychotherapeutic strate gies, pointing out the efficacy of the use of'linking objects' (e.g. personal possessions of the deceased) as a means of provoking 're-grief work [28], a behavioural technique of 'guided mourning' [29], a semi-behavioural forced mourning procedure [30], flooding and prolonged expo sure [31], and a combination of cognitive and analytic approaches to modify the patient's self-image [19], The various psychotherapeutic approaches share some fea tures. Most therapies provide the bereaved with informa tion about what to expect, attempt to put order in their puzzling array of feelings and behaviours, encourage the expression of emotions and affects, endeavour to help the bereaved to reconcile themselves with their new relation ship with the dead person, and attend to the bereaved individual's new identity [1], Parkes [3] remarks that techniques aimed at bringing about the expression of grief are only appropriate when there is evidence of avoidance and repression of grief, while in other patients it may be important to give the patient permission to stop grieving, being careful not to collude with any tendency to consider grief as an obligation to the dead.…”

Intersections Between Grief and Trauma: Toward an Empirically Based Model for Treating Traumatic Grief

“…Both Mawson, Marks, Ramm, and Stern (1981) and Sireling, Cohen, and Marks (1988) studied an intervention of guided mourning for bereaved individuals who were identified as having experienced chronic grief for at least 1 year. The behavioral intervention involved exposure to feared and avoided bereavement cues.…”